gone fishin': part 2

gone fishin'

I'm not really fishing, but I am on vacation in South Carolina, in case you were wondering. Here are a few photos to keep you interested.

Draco has arrived!

Picture courtesy of RAYGUN , Facebook

By Draco, I mean Winter Storm Draco, as the Weather Channel so aptly named it. Like Draco Malfoy, Winter Storm Draco sure is a little bitch. It knocked out power to over 30,000 people in the Des Moines Metro area (although somehow my street was spared) and has caused numerous accidents, some ending in fatalities. Please stay off the roads, if you can!

I, fortunately, have been able to watch Draco's wrath from the comfort of my couch. The snow started around 5:30pm yesterday, and stopped sometime early this morning. I've read that Des Moines received around 13 inches of snow, the most we've had in awhile. I ventured out as far as the parking lot earlier today, but only to scrape my car off in preparation for tomorrow, when I'll undoubtably be running late for work. I hope you're all safe and warm and no where near Slytherin! See what I did there? 

Draco last night

Draco's aftermath today 

scenic views

Although my trip to Charleston wasn't really about seeing Charleston, I still managed to do a little sight seeing while I was there. We spent a day at the Magnolia Plantation, and another day at the beach. I took about a thousand pictures, but I managed to narrow it down to a few....

stay tuned...

For the past 5 days I've been in Charleston visiting the boyfriend, but I will be back in good ol' Des Moines at 10pm tonight. Here's a preview of what's to come in my next post[s]:

i can go 3 speeds!

I'm excited to announce that I now own a bicycle! Soon I will also own a lock (which is something I forgot about when I brought my previous bike up to college with me, which explains why I had to buy a new one), and then I will be able to have an alternate form of transportation to and from work! I've been scouring and by scouring I mean casually perusing Craigslist but only finding things like mountain bikes the internet for a cute cruiser type bike, but coming up with nothing but expensive new bikes and crappy used bikes. Then one day a friend posted on Facebook that he had a lot of bicycle things he wanted to sell, and I jokingly replied "I need an entire bike, do you have one of those?", and as luck would have it, he did! Although I would prefer a women's frame just for the simple fact that they're easier to get on and off of, I found this bike to be almost exactly what I dreamed of; a stylish, vintage, cruiser-style bike.

Alas, I have yet to actually take it out for a spin. Partly because I don't have a lock for it yet, and partly because I don't know where to ride it besides to work. The Des Moines area has a pretty developed set of recreational bike trails, which I need to further investigate. I'm kind of afraid of riding through downtown (which is how I get to work) because I don't trust that people will see me and not hit me! I grew up in a tiny town where there really was no traffic, and that's pretty much the only place I've ever ridden a bike. To give you a better idea, I crashed on multiple occasions and laid in the middle of the road for 5-10 minutes without worrying about any cars. I need to brush up on my biking hand signals.

So, who wants to go on a bike ride with me? :)

nature is neat

On this glorious day there were record highs in Iowa (78degrees!). I had to work, but thankfully it was my morning shift and not my afternoon one. I got off at 1pm, and shortly after, Ryan and I headed out to Ledges State Park to enjoy some nature! We saw a dead raccoon (RIP Rocky) and spied on people from a scenic lookout (they were going to a "secret place", but they didn't divulge the specifics). Then I ranted about how crazy/different/kind of awesome it would be if we had never forced the Native Americans off their lands. Also, if I ever have a daughter I'm going to teach her how to sew and change her own oil and cook everything ever! By the age of 6! Things I wish I knew how to do! Also, what if people pooped in the wild and had to clean up after themselves with those little baggies that they have for dogs? I don't know, my mind went off into a lot of avenues while on our hike. Anyways, it was a pretty day and I had a nice time with my fella. Here are 2 pictures to show you my story is not made up:

Ryan's back side.